by Elodie Colt
I smacked my head back as forcefully as I could connecting with something hard. Judging from the sound of teeth clashing together, I’d hit a chin, and the death grip around me loosened. Ignoring the pain in my head, I jerked around and jabbed my left elbow into my attacker’s abdomen. He grunted, but his other hand shot toward me faster than I could comprehend and clamped around my throat in a brutal grip.
He widened his stance and heaved me up with ease. My feet dangled in the air, and my fingers flew to my throat in an attempt to get the hands off me. Then, my vision changed, and I saw the world tilting as my body was thrust down. Keeping a firm grip on my throat, he flipped me over in a swift movement, and I landed with a loud crack on the ground.
Stars appeared in front of my vision as agonizing pain shot through my head. Funny that the only thing I could think of at that moment was Shawna’s hair clip. I’d be furious if it got ruined. It seemed to be still intact, though, as my hair was still firmly in place.
I refocused on the task at hand and drove my knee up connecting with my attacker’s manhood with enough force for him to let out a high-pitched cry of male torture. I couldn’t be sure, but I think I’d felt something crack. Yuck.
I used the moment to make a fist and punched directly in his cheek. It was enough to make him tumble sideways, and I took the chance to scramble up, the pain in my knee forgotten as it was replaced by a new one coming from my knuckles. Damn, I would need to train on that.
Before he could get to me again, another figure attacked him giving me the chance to catch my breath.
What was I going to do? Who was my enemy here? All of them were covered in hoodies—I couldn’t even make out their faces, barely telling male and female apart. Whipping around in panic, I quickly took in my surroundings. A few of them wore the same uniforms—something like tight black training suits. By the looks of it, they were a team.
Glancing back to the one who’d attacked me, I realized he didn’t wear the same uniform and quickly made an assumption for lack of more detailed information. No uniform equaled enemy. The only problem was I didn’t know if the formula also worked the other way around. So, the question if uniform equaled ally was left unanswered for now.
My clothes were soaking wet as the rain got worse, and I was covered in mud and dirt. A flash of lightning crisscrossed the sky, the sudden brightness elongating the gloomy shadows of the high trees and bushes surrounding them. A few seconds later, a loud boom echoed as growling thunder erupted, startling me so forcefully I jumped a foot in the air.
A high-pitched female cry resounded over the park. I snapped my head in the direction the voice came from and noticed a girl in uniform struggling with her attacker. Her hood was off revealing dark hair and bloody cuts on her cheeks. She was writhing on the ground, and her attacker took the chance to grab her foot. The girl kicked out, but his grip on her didn’t loosen.
I shot forward to help her out of her misery. Lucky for me, the guy was too busy dragging his prey over the ground and didn’t see me charging him. I crashed into him, causing us both to tumble to the ground in a mass of tangled limbs.
Mission accomplished—the girl was free. However, I’d just thrown myself back into the hands of my enemy. Again.
His knee drove upward and connected with my stomach. The air squeezed out of my lungs leaving me immobile for a few seconds as I frantically gulped for air. He rolled us both over and trapped me under his weight. Well, shit.
A flash of silver caught my eyes, and what I saw made my stomach drop—my attacker had a knife in his hands.
How ironic fate was. The only difference was that I didn’t have a sister doomed with the misfortune to be forced to watch my death.
“Be still, and I won’t—”
I didn’t get to hear the rest of what he was saying as the girl I’d helped appeared above us grabbing the attacker’s collar to get him off of me, but her attempt backfired. The man lashed out with his elbow and punched the girl in the jaw. A sickening crunch followed, and the girl’s eyes closed shut as her body plummeted sideways like a dead weight.
I gasped in shock. Did I just witness the girl’s murder, or was she just unconscious? God, I prayed for the latter.
I didn’t have time to think about how to help her as the situation I found myself in seemed to be just as hopeless. The attacker refocused on me with a low, angry growl rumbling from his mouth. He put the knife closer to my neck, its blade catching the street lamp’s light, but I quickly spotted another flash when I noticed his eyes.
I couldn’t see them clearly—hidden by the shadows—but there was no doubt what I’d seen. And this time, whatever it was had shown itself in accurate detail.
A silver eruption of light, thin as a strand of hair, circling clockwise around both pupils—so fast, it looked like a shooting star outlining them with its tail vanishing as quickly as it appeared. It was beautiful and not natural. It terrified me.
Who the hell were these people?
For a brief moment, Shawna’s face appeared in front of my mental eye. A carefree, smiling, happy face with sun-deepened freckles and a little hole between the front teeth merging into a soulless, pale face, blue lips, and eyes staring into nothingness as the life slowly drained out of her.
My stomach churned as a weird, yet familiar, feeling spread inside me. The same sensation I’d felt before jumping the fence standing between Shawna and me that night in the dark alley. I felt my lungs expanding causing the next inhale to kick my senses into overdrive, the added oxygen fueling my body with renewed energy. The attacker moved his hand downward, the edge of the knife already dangerously near my heart.
“Stop struggling, and I’ll…”
My hand shot out to grab the wrist currently holding the deadly weapon. I didn’t have much faith in being strong enough to make a difference, but what happened next definitely took the cake.
Getting hold of his wrist, I shoved with all my strength. My best hope was he’d drop his weapon, but instead, the weight on my body lifted, and my attacker flew through the air.
It was like time froze.
The knife fell from his hands as his body sailed backward in an arc for at least twenty feet only to be stopped by a tree standing in his flight path. He crashed into the trunk and slid motionlessly to the ground, a few apples from the branches raining down on top of him with popping sounds. It would have been comical under different circumstances.
I was rendered speechless. It was simply impossible I’d caused that with my own strength, let alone with a force knocking him out for good. Did I have any help? But by whom? There were still many hooded figures fighting, but none of them were close enough to pull off a stunt like that.
Holding my hand in front of my face, I scrutinized it. I turned my palm over but didn’t notice anything different except for a few bloodied cuts.
The surrounding battle cries distracted me, and I somehow managed to get up again. I wobbled to where the knife stuck in the mud and bent low to retrieve it. I had no idea what to do with it, and secretly hoped I wouldn’t have a use for it. Defending myself was one thing, but what if I accidentally killed someone?
A figure stood a few feet to my left, watching me. He wore a uniform—he was one of the good ones, I hoped. He pulled back his hood allowing me to see ruffled hair and boyish features. His eyes flashed once—a sight I was slowly becoming familiar with. The first thing I’d do tomorrow morning would be googling ‘strange eye flashes.’
“You’re one of us,” he mumbled in something that sounded like utter astonishment. What was he saying? Was he even speaking to me?
Again, I was brutally brought out of my thoughts and didn’t have time to ponder about what the boy had said as something snatched my left ankle, and I was yanked backward with a brutal thrust nearly giving me a whiplash. Damn, I would need to pay better attention, or I wouldn’t survive the night.
My legs flew out from under me, but I was able to avoid kissing the ground with my chin as I stretched o
ut my arms in front of me. My hands connected with the ground, and the impact brought a stinging pain to my wrists causing me to drop the knife in the process. The weapon had been in my hands for how long exactly? Three seconds?
Spinning around to face my attacker, I used my free leg to kick without any target point in mind. My foot crashed into his shoulder, but I didn’t gain enough momentum to do any real damage. He caught said foot also, positioned his other hand on my knee—yes, the wounded one—and leaned into his grip with all his body weight. I screamed in agony as he bent my leg at an awkward angle threatening to break my bones.
Whoever those motherfuckers were, they were skilled in fighting. All threads of hope vanished. I didn’t stand a chance against them. Thinking of it, that wasn’t entirely true. One was still unconscious lying in a pile of apples. The only problem was, I didn’t have any clue about how I’d done that, or how I could do it a second time.
The stinging pain clouded my vision, and I knew I was seconds from blacking out. I spotted the knife I’d lost only seconds before. Stretching my fingers as far as I could, I tried to grasp it, breaking at least two finger nails as they scraped over the gravel.
Finally, I reached its handle with my wet fingertips and pulled it toward me. Clutching it tightly, I brought the knife down thrusting the blade through my attacker’s hand. It seemed as if I didn’t need to worry about using weapons to defend myself after all.
I felt the knife move through sinews, but it stopped when it hit a bony barrier—much to my advantage. Otherwise, the blade would have glided through into my knee. With a strangled cry, he let go of me and clutched at his wounded hand with a knife protruding from the middle. I tried not to think about the fact that this was the first time I’d injured someone on purpose.
Instead, I used the opportunity to yank back my other leg and kicked him in the face with full force, his nose cracking under my soles. He stumbled, but the bastard was still standing.
From the looks of it, I just made him very angry. The growl he gave me was enough indication that his next blow would hurt like a bitch, probably transferring me into afterlife straight away.
Ignoring the pain, I recoiled and took off. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, but finding a weapon sounded like a great plan as the knife was still stuck in my opponent’s hand. Maybe I could find a stone or another sharp object somewhere on the ground?
I sensed the man pursuing me. He was faster—he’d get to me soon. Lightning illuminated the sky again, and I found a straight branch with a sharp end on the ground. This would have to do for now.
Bending low to snatch it, I swung it back in a high arc just in time to connect with his upper arm. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the desired effect as he ripped the stick out of my hands and threw it away with an impatient growl.
I took off again, nearly losing my footing in the wet earth and passed a pair of swings dangling from a wooden framework. I slithered on the muddy ground as I tried to come to a stop.
Capturing one of the swings, I thrust it forward as forcefully as I could falling on my ass in the process. I knew it was a poor attempt, but somehow the swing connected directly with his face, snapping his head back and taking him off guard for a moment.
The girl from earlier came running toward me, her shoulder-length hair flying behind her. My attacker was still recovering and didn’t see her advancing.
She grabbed the knife handle protruding from the man’s hand and yanked it out in one swift motion, prompting him to cry out in agony. Blood flowed freely, but that didn’t stop her from swiping her foot under him. It connected with his ankles making him land on his back.
The girl smacked her heel onto the man’s torso and pushed the knife into his heart without hesitation. His eyes flew open in shock, but other than a gurgling sound, nothing came out of his mouth. Then, his eyelids closed, head rolling uselessly to the side.
I could only stare. This was the second time I’d seen a death caused by a knife, and believe me, it’s not a nice thing to watch.
The girl stepped away from the dead body on the ground and held out a hand to me.
“Get up, we have to get you out of here,” she urged me on, and I focused on the outstretched hand in front of my face. Could I trust her? Did I even have a choice? I doubted it.
My mind made up, I took the hand and let the girl pull me up with ease. She was shorter and probably thinner than me, but her strength was astounding.
“Jesus,” the girl mumbled when we both locked eyes. Again, there was this flash of light. She stretched out a trembling hand, grabbed my hood and yanked it down.
“That’s… that’s… I can’t believe it.” The girl put her hand over her mouth in utter amazement. “That was what he meant…”
Tears prickled her eyes, and I was shocked into silence. What the hell was happening here? And why was the girl getting emotional all of a sudden? Yes, I was close to tears, too, but somehow, I doubted she was crying for the same reason.
“Sarah, look out!” someone shouted from behind us, and we both whipped around simultaneously.
A round, burning, white-blue light, the size of a fist, was coming at us. Fast.
Shortly before it zipped past, I was certain about two things. First, this was definitely not a lightning bolt, at least not a natural one, flying horizontally as if aimed at a target. Second, I instinctively knew I’d breathe my last breath if that thing struck me.
“Shit!” The girl whose name was Sarah came to the same conclusion and grabbed my sweater to yank me down as I was too stunned to move on my own. We landed ungracefully in the mud, the light fizzling only inches above our heads. I could feel its heat and smelled a burned stench as strands of my hair got singed.
We followed the light with our gaze to see it hitting a tree, impacting with a deep, bassy boom of sound that left my ears ringing.
We stared at the tree which was now aflame and started to make cracking sounds. The bark had turned black where the light had exploded, leaving the edges burned and fuming. A huge branch on top lost its fight with gravity and slowly collapsed, cracking in two before hitting the earth and burying a figure underneath—it was the man I’d miraculously thrown through the air before. He might have been alive until now. I watched in horror as his head got crushed by the wood, blood flowing everywhere.
“Oh my God,” I whined, feeling panic rising. I was glad it was dark. Otherwise, I’d probably see his brain scattered on the ground.
“No time for that, honey, you can go into shock later. We have to get out of the way of whoever is shooting at us with whatever the fuck they’re shooting with,” Sarah explained and pulled me up roughly.
They? Someone was doing this? What kind of destroying weapon was that, and who the fuck was shooting it at people?
Speaking of it, maybe someone would call the police. No, that wouldn’t help. Whoever those guys were, they could probably outsmart the cops in seconds. Maybe no one had even noticed what was going on here—it was thundering above us every few seconds. The ‘other’ bolts would go unnoticed, I feared.
We stumbled forward as another light ball targeted us, the sizzling sound already dangerously close. It missed Sarah’s feet by inches, and we both jumped sideways at the last second. I had no idea in which direction we were going, but I assumed Sarah was taking us away from the open field and further into the trees on the other side of the park. I doubted that hiding in the forest was a good idea while being shot at with electricity, or whatever it was, but I followed the girl nonetheless.
Another lightning bolt materialized—this one directed at a little wooden house on pillars with a big slide on it ending in a sandbox below.
“Cassie, get the fuck out of there!” Sarah shouted in the direction where the bolt would hit.
Two figures were currently fighting on top of the wooden house. The bolt hit one of the pillars with another loud boom making it collapse. With only three pillars left, the playhouse threatened to topple over.
The two people on top stumbled dangerously. I spotted a female figure wearing the black uniform who must have been the one Sarah had called Cassie. She kicked out at her opponent who flew over the top of the house and hit the slide with a metallic gong sound. Before the house gave way completely, Cassie jumped off.
The one who didn’t land that gracefully tumbled down the slide until he finally made a face plant into the sandbox at the bottom. He tried to get up, still dizzy from the bumpy descent, but Cassie was faster. She rushed over to him and grasped his neck from behind. The sickening crunch was indication enough that she’d just broken his neck in one swift movement. She let the mangled body fall to the ground like a sack.
Visiting a shrink suddenly didn’t seem to be such a bad idea. However, I doubted he’d classify me as mental when I told him my story.
Another bolt came out of nowhere hitting a lamp post with a metallic crashing sound. It forced us to change direction as the post threatened to fall over.
“Who the hell is shooting at us, and where are they hiding, and how the fuck is that even possible?” I yelled, figuring it was time to point that out.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out, just keep going,” Sarah replied and took my hand to guide me. The lamppost was sparkling with electricity, and I could hear the metal groaning as it slowly neared the ground.
“Faster!” Sarah yelled as she, too, realized the post would hit us.
We got out of its way at the last second, and the pole struck the ground hard, the lamp splitting into pieces. Sarah hustled me behind a big tree and urged me to stay low.
“Wha… What the fuck is going on?” I wanted to know, my ears still ringing and giving me an annoying headache. I didn’t panic easily, but the creep factor had blasted the top level.
“We don’t have much time. We can’t hide here forever, they’ll find us,” Sarah hissed.
“Who? I mean, why…”
“Not now, sweetie. What’s your name?”
